Show & Tell: Harpist Tomoko Sugawara
8 – 9:30PM
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) presents an evening of music and conversation with Kugo (ancient Japanese harp) player Tomoko Sugawara with friends shakuhachi (Japanese flute) player Ralph Samuelson and lute player Carlo Valte.
The program’s theme is “Along the Silk Road.” The music traces the spread and development of music played on stringed instruments along the famed Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia.
Tickets are $15 and are available here and at the door.
“… astonishingly striking…simply stunning, a sophisticated elegance wrapped around a harp.” — T.J. Nelson, WorldMusicCentral.com
Tomoko Sugawara (kugo harp) was born in Tokyo, Japan, and began playing the Irish harp at age twelve. She took up the concert harp at sixteen, and it was her main instrument when she graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Since 1991 she has also played reconstructions of the kugo. She has given numerous solo recitals on the concert harp and the kugo in major international venues, such as the World Harp Congress (in Prague and Amsterdam), Indiana University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and The British Museum. http://www.kugoharp.com
Her kugo CD “Along the Silk Road” has garnered extraordinary reviews. Invented in Iraq about 1,900 B.C. the kugo instrument spread far and wide. In East Asia the instrument arrived on the Silk Road 550 A.D. and lasted 600 years. In western Asia it died out around 1700 A.D. With harp scholar Bo Lawergren she tries to bring it back to life. She plays music from the time the harp flourished (800 – 1000 A.D. in east Asia, and 1300 A.D. in Persia) as well as pieces recently composed for her.
Ralph Samuelson (shakuhachi flute) began his studies of Kinko school shakuhachi music in 1969. He first traveled to Japan in 1971 to become a student of Yamaguchi Goro, and he has been studying the traditional repertoire and playing style of the Kinko school with Yamaguchi-sensei since that time. Mr. Samuelson has performed throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. He has been presented in radio and television broadcasts in Japan and the US and has recorded for several international record labels. He is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and teaches the shakuhachi in New York, where he is former director of the Asian Cultural Council.
Carlo Valte (Arabic lute) Carlo Valte is active as a soloist and ensemble player. Past performances included solo performances at the U.N. and ensemble performances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall. He is also a cofounder of the Six Hands Guitar Trio, which has performed extensively around Mexico and northeastern United States. He is currently on the faculties of Queensborough Community College and Mannes College of Music. He received his Master of Music degree at the Mannes College of Music where he was a scholarship student of Frederic Hand.